By-polls on 27 NA, 28 PA seats likely

LAHORE - In case the PTI members of the National, Punjab and Sindh assemblies resign from their seats as announced by the party leadership, by-elections would be held on seven national and 24 provincial seats in the Punjab.

In Sindh, by-polls would be held only on one national constituency and four provincial seats. No such election would be conducted in Balochistan where the PTI has no representation in either of the assemblies. In, by-election would be held on 17 general seats of the National Assembly won by the PTI. Elections would also become inevitable in Fata and the federal capital where the PTI has one seat each.

The PTI won 27 NA seats in 2013 from the four provinces, which made total number of its seats 34 in the house of 342 with the addition of six seats reserved for women and one for non-Muslims.

Out of 27 general seats, Khan’s party won 17 from KPK, seven from Punjab and one each from Sindh, FATA and the federal capital. The PTI could not win even a single seat from Balochistan.

The prominent PTI leaders from Punjab who would lose their National Assembly seats include Imran Khan (Rawalpindi), Makhdoom Javid Hashmi (Multan), Shah Mahmood Qureshi (Multan) and Shafqat Mehmood (Lahore). Asad Umer would be vacating a seat from the federal capital.

Dr Arif Alvi is the only PTI leader from Sindh to resign from the National Assembly. Jamshed Dasti, formerly associated with PPP, has also announced to vacate his National Assembly seat.

If PML-Q and AML of Sh Rashid follow the suit, three more national seats from Punjab would become vacant. They include the seats held by Ch Pervaiz Elahi (Gujrat), Tariq Bashir Cheema (Bahawalpur) and Sh Rashid (Rawalpindi). In Punjab Assembly, Imran’s party won 24 general seats, enabling it to have another four seats reserved for women, which brought its total count to 30 in the house of 372. Opposition leader Mian Mahmoodur Rashid (Lahore), Mian Aslam Iqbal (Lahore) and Col (R) Arif Abbasi (Rawalpindi) would be the three prominent legislators of PTI to resign from their provincial seats.

In Sindh, the PTI has only four members, while in Balochistan it has no representation. A decision about KPK Assembly has yet to be made where the PTI has 55 members in the house of 124.